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The slight body of this Dogon shrine figure is androgynous. The shape of the breasts suggests a woman who has nursed children, but a beard projects from the chin, blurring the specificities of sex to create an idealized ancestor. This sculpture would have been placed in a shrine in the home of the oldest man in the family. Families keep such shrines to honor their ancestors, and the sculpture is viewed as a place for the deceased’s spirit to rest when it leaves the body after death. The sculptor’s decision to create the form as a cascade of perfect geometry, with strong abstract lines and deep, confident surface markings, would have made the sculpture particularly striking in the raking light coming through the door of the house where it was kept.
The feet, thighs, and hips are tipped at the same echoing angle, creating a curvature in the lower half of the figure that recurs in the cylindrical neck and circular hairstyle. The line of the hips reaches the same plane as the tips of the fingers, and in the hands and torso a rectilinear rhythm takes over. The artist has delicately carved diagonal lines into the shoulders, arms, and hips to accentuate their shape and volume. The double line on the head separates the face from hair. The briefest suggestion of features on the face creates a delicate profile with parted lips. The weathered stomach and upper thighs contrast with the remains of offerings on the back of the figure, suggesting that this sculpture aided prayerful worship for many years.
Shrine figure
Dogon
Late 19th to early 20th century
Object Place: Mali, Bandiagara cliffs
Medium/Technique
Wood
Dimensions
height: 50.8 cm (20 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of William E. and Bertha L. Teel
Accession Number1991.1068
CollectionsAfrica and Oceania
ClassificationsSculpture
The slight body of this Dogon shrine figure is androgynous. The shape of the breasts suggests a woman who has nursed children, but a beard projects from the chin, blurring the specificities of sex to create an idealized ancestor. This sculpture would have been placed in a shrine in the home of the oldest man in the family. Families keep such shrines to honor their ancestors, and the sculpture is viewed as a place for the deceased’s spirit to rest when it leaves the body after death. The sculptor’s decision to create the form as a cascade of perfect geometry, with strong abstract lines and deep, confident surface markings, would have made the sculpture particularly striking in the raking light coming through the door of the house where it was kept.
The feet, thighs, and hips are tipped at the same echoing angle, creating a curvature in the lower half of the figure that recurs in the cylindrical neck and circular hairstyle. The line of the hips reaches the same plane as the tips of the fingers, and in the hands and torso a rectilinear rhythm takes over. The artist has delicately carved diagonal lines into the shoulders, arms, and hips to accentuate their shape and volume. The double line on the head separates the face from hair. The briefest suggestion of features on the face creates a delicate profile with parted lips. The weathered stomach and upper thighs contrast with the remains of offerings on the back of the figure, suggesting that this sculpture aided prayerful worship for many years.
Provenance1960s, sold by J. J. Klejman (dealer), New York, to Samuel Wagstaff (b. 1921 – d. 1987), Hartford, CT; sold by Wagstaff to William Rubin (b. 1926 – d. 2006), New York. September, 1984, sold by Michael Oliver, Inc., New York, to William and Bertha Teel, Marblehead, MA; 1991, partial gift of William and Bertha Teel to the MFA; 2014, acquired fully with the bequest of William Teel to the MFA. (Accession Dates: January 22, 1992 and February 26, 2014)